Read Online Road to Absolution by Piper Davenport - Free Book Online Page B

back.” He frowned. “I was kind of bummed
you did. I only took it because I wanted a gander at the girls.”
    I gasped.
“Ohmigod, you did not.”
    “I absolutely
did.” He grinned, leaning down to kiss me again.
    I pushed his
face away. “I don’t even remember what the secret was.”
    “Me neither,” he
admitted. “But I didn’t care, to be honest.”
    “This is weird.
You get that right?”
    “Weird, no.
Different, yes.” He gave me space and leaned against the counter. “Most people
would kill to start a romance with half the foundation we’ve built, Cass.”
    “That is true,” I mused.
    “Mom?” Maverick
called. “Mommy!”
    I pushed away
from Carter and rushed to Maverick’s room. “Hey, baby, you okay?”
    “I’m wet,” he
whispered. “I’m sorry.”
    “Aw, honey,
you’ve got nothing to be sorry for. Remember? Sometimes this happens, it’s no
big deal.”
    He threw his
arms around my neck and squeezed. “I love you, Mommy.”
    “Mmm, I love you
too. Okay, kiddo, let’s get you cleaned up and we’ll change your bed. Uncle
Carter is here, so don’t worry if you hear voices.”
    “’K,” he said,
and grabbed clean clothes before heading to the bathroom.
    “Where are the
sheets, babe?” Carter asked from the doorway.
    “In the hall.
Closet’s on the right.” I stripped the bed and threw the sheets in the corner.
He’d need a new mattress cover, so I leaned in the hall to tell Carter,
stopping myself as I watched him hunkered down eye-to-eye with Maverick.
    “Mommy never
gets mad,” Maverick said.
    “Do you think
she should get mad?”
    He shrugged.
    Carter laid a
hand on his shoulder. “You know, bud, there’s nothing to be ashamed about. It
happens.”
    “Does it happen
to you?” Maverick asked.
    I bit back a
smile as I watched the exchange.
    “Not anymore,
but it did when I was your age.”
    “Really?”
    Carter nodded.
“Yeah, and my mom never got mad either. Because it’s no big deal.”
    “Ethan says only
babies wet their pants.”
    “Who’s Ethan?”
    Ugh, Ethan. He
was a nasty little kid in Maverick’s daycare and he’s the first six-year-old
I’d ever wanted to cold cock into next year.
    “He sits next to
me sometimes during snack. He was teasing Xavier because he didn’t make it to
the potty on time.” Maverick rubbed his eyes. “He made Xavier cry.”
    “Well, that
wasn’t very nice of Ethan, huh? But you don’t need to worry about him, because
he sounds like a bully,” Carter said. “And you want to know a secret about
bullies?”
    Maverick nodded,
his eyes wide in anticipation.
    “Bullies are
just cowards.”
    “What’s a
coward?”
    “A coward is
someone who is scared, which I have no problem with, but a bully is someone who
won’t admit he’s scared and, instead of asking for help, he’s mean so he can
look strong.”
    Maverick’s head
bobbed up and down. “Oh, yeah, he’s really mean sometimes.”
    “He is?”
Carter’s voice dropped low and I felt his anger pour off of him.
    “Hmm-mmm, he
pulls girls’ hair and sometimes hits them.”
    “And do you pull
girls’ hair or hit them?”
    Maverick gasped.
“No! I wouldn’t do that. Girls are pretty.”
    I grinned. Score
one for Cassidy’s parental powers.
    “They are
pretty,” Carter agreed.
    Maverick lowered
his voice. “And sometimes, Katie lets me kiss her by the bathroom.”
    There just went
my point. Damn it.
    Carter chuckled.
“Well, I think it would be a good rule to just plan on never hitting a girl
even if she isn’t pretty, and maybe it would also be a good rule to wait until
you’re older to kiss a girl.”
    “How come?”
    “Because when
you grow up to be a man, you have a responsibility to protect a woman, but more
importantly, you need to respect a woman instead of just trying to kiss her.”
    “Are you going
to protect my mom?”
    “Absolutely,”
Carter said.
    Maverick’s grin
grew and he threw his arms around Carter’s neck. “I’ll